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Support Our Troops
Last Updated:3:02 PM PST 10/24/08 Section: Opinion
Somewhere along the way of noticing the ubiquity of "Support Our Troops" vehicle decals, I lost interest in keeping track of our troops killed in the Iraqi and Afghani conflicts. One of the reasons was because it pissed me off too much to see these tacky efforts at jingoistic backing of our sanctioned killers lauded as heroes. I jest, most of them are not murderers. I mean, you're trained to kill in bootcamp, you can be ordered to pick up a weapon and fire at an enemy, and the military involves destroying targets, but the majority are not frontline troops. They're just the instigators. Much like an Oscar acceptance speech, without their support, this could not occur.
I, like a majority of Americans, do not support the war in Iraq. But surely, this doesn't mean you cannot support the troops, right? War needs manpower. Manpower qualifies as our troops. Therefore, war cannot occur without our troops. Want to stop the war? Don't support the troops. But surely you can't mean that? I don't. "Support our troops," is such a subtle phrase that it should merit its own think-tank. A savvy sign I once read, "Support our troops -- bring them home now. Well, that works, for the opposite effect intended
They fought for your right to say that! Two things:
No, they did not. The only effect their tour of duty had on me was probably the opposite. I feel less safe expressing myself, even as an American citizen, than I did before these frivolous wars, by curtailment of my civil liberties, such as the PATRIOT Act.
Are you trying to say that because one fought, those who did not do not have the right to express themselves? If so, then think about it again. If not, then think about it again.
Support our troops. According to iCasualties.org, the reported number of deaths of US troops is 4,141. We could expect the average American to estimate it to 4,000. But the Iraqi deaths, it is not mentioned to a common person enough, or at all, to extract an estimate. Are Iraqi lives worth less to the common American because they don't have the backing of tacky magnets? According to IraqBodyCount.org, the very conservative estimate is 86,609 deaths due to violence. So approximately 21 Iraqis are worth one American military personnel's life. Of course, there are more Iraqi deaths directly related to the war, there are a shiteload more wounded, and there are millions of refugees.
I, like a majority of Americans, do not support the war in Iraq. But surely, this doesn't mean you cannot support the troops, right? War needs manpower. Manpower qualifies as our troops. Therefore, war cannot occur without our troops. Want to stop the war? Don't support the troops. But surely you can't mean that? I don't. "Support our troops," is such a subtle phrase that it should merit its own think-tank. A savvy sign I once read, "Support our troops -- bring them home now. Well, that works, for the opposite effect intended
They fought for your right to say that! Two things:
Support our troops. According to iCasualties.org, the reported number of deaths of US troops is 4,141. We could expect the average American to estimate it to 4,000. But the Iraqi deaths, it is not mentioned to a common person enough, or at all, to extract an estimate. Are Iraqi lives worth less to the common American because they don't have the backing of tacky magnets? According to IraqBodyCount.org, the very conservative estimate is 86,609 deaths due to violence. So approximately 21 Iraqis are worth one American military personnel's life. Of course, there are more Iraqi deaths directly related to the war, there are a shiteload more wounded, and there are millions of refugees.
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Yoso
posted 10/10/08 @ 1:02 PM PST
Well, regardless of how we all feel, support should still be given to 'our' troops. They're not my troops though because I'm not american but you should still do. (Continued…)
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